This is the concluding year of a broad, long-term program of research on nutritional problems endemic in the Middle East, the nature and setting of which afford exceptional opportunities for basic studies in human and comparative nutrition. The involved staff of Vanderbilt University, of NAMRU-3 in Cairo, and collaborators from cooperating Egyptian, American and third national institutions have identified and delineated new deficiency manifestations in this region in man - zinc deficiency, tocopheral responsive anemia, selenium and chromium responsive syndromes, hypoplastic anemia responding to folic acid, biochemical changes in protein deficiency. They have evaluated the FAO/WHO recommended intake of folic acid for infants and young children and provided definitive bases for redefining the requirements, have amassed extensive data on trace element content of foodstuffs and nutriture in the region and critique of methodology. Effective needed levels of supplementation with vitamin A have been ascertained. Definitive studies of parasitism and malnutrition in man and benefits of nutritional therapy are in progress. Mycotoxins have been studied as a cause of an endemic disease in donkeys. Reports and monographic summaries of nutritional information on the region are being completed.